1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus suitable for transferring the received secret data.
2. Related Background Art
Owing to the recent remarkable popularization of the internet, the facsimile device which has executed communication only through the public network is now becoming to be connected to a computer network such as a LAN (local area network).
Such facsimile device adaptable to multi-lines, connectable to the public network and the LAN, upon receiving image data from another facsimile device through the public network, transfers such image data to a server computer through the LAN.
The user acquires the image data by accessing to the server computer from a client computer. The acquired image data can displayed and viewed on a CRT by a predetermined viewer software. Otherwise the image data can be printed and observed by a printer connected to the client computer.
In the facsimile communication, there is known a confidential function. In such function, the facsimile apparatus does not immediately print the image received under the designation of a confidential transmission but stores the image in a memory, and prints such image from the memory in response to the input of a predetermined password. Thus the image can be viewed only by the user who knows the confidential password.
However, as the conventional facsimile device described above is not provided with a configuration for transferring the confidential image, the intended recipient user of the confidential image has to go to the location of such facsimile device and to have the confidential image to be printed by the entry of the password.